In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad, for it sets one person against another and it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit （追求） of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society.
Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth.
Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve （缓解） can we discover a new meaning in competition.The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to those who ______.
| A．are against competition most strongly. | B．are fond of competition very much. |
| C．are satisfied with competition. | D．are interested in competition |
According to the passage, why do some people support competition?
A．Because they think friendly relationship needs it. k+s-5#u |
| B．Because they think social progress and prosperity need it. |
| C．Because they think it can make us become cleverer. |
| D．Because they think it can deal with many personal problems. |
We can learn from the passage that __________.
| A．all the people have the same opinion about competition |
| B．Failure can make most people feel down |
| C．Both the true competitors and those with a desire to fail believe one’s worth lies in his performance compared with others |
| D．Competition can make every competitor successful |
The passage manly talks about different opinions about ________.
| A．competition | B．success | C．failure | D．friendship |
B
It is surprising that eating three meals a day ─ breakfast, lunch, and dinner ─ has been a custom only since 1890. Before this time, they only had two meals a day ─ breakfast and dinner.
In the 16th century, breakfast was only to break one's fast (随便吃一点). But 200 years later it had become a large meal , not just for family, but for numbers of guests as well. It was a social event, It began at 10 a.m. and lasted until l p.m.. Then breakfast began to be less popular. It became , instead, a lighter meal and was taken at a much earlier hour. By 1850 it had been pushed hack to 8 a.m.. and became a family meal.
Dinner, however, went the other way. In the 16th century it was eaten at 11 a.m.. Years later, it had moved to the early afternoon, then to 5 p. m.. By 1850 dinner time had reached 7 p.m. Lunch is a recent idea. It first appeared as a snack to fill the gap between breakfast and dinner.
59. English people did not have lunch _________.
A. before 1890 B. after 1890 C. after 16th century D. by 1850
60. "Dinner, however, went the other way" means _________.
A. Dinner didn't go there with breakfast B. Dinner took the same way with breakfast
C. Dinner is different from breakfast D. Dinner is the same with breakfast
61. Lunch has been served since the end of the ________ century.
A. seventeenth B. eighteenth C. sixteenth D. nineteenth
62. The selection is mostly concerned with _________.
A. what people eat for breakfast B. what people eat for dinner
C. the history of supper D. the history of breakfast
63. The selection leads the reader to believe that __________.
A. our custom of meals is based on English custom
B. before 1890 people also ate three meals a day
C. breakfast is the most important meal for us
D. the body can adjust to two or three meals a day
第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
A
According to a famous optical(光学) expert, Alexander, who recently visited Shanghai, the developed countries in Europe and America have made rules that children must wear resinous(树脂) glasses instead of the traditional glasses made of glass. This is because the glass glasses are more likely to do harm to children’s eyesight.
Alexander pointed out: wearing the right glasses as soon as possible is still the best way to cure and put right children’s eyesight problems.
In America and Japan the resinous glasses have taken up 80 percent of the glasses market. And some European countries and America have made it a law that children, teenagers and drivers must wear resinous glasses. Now, about 10 million children in China have different eyesight problems and they need timely treatment.
But still, too many parents are buying the traditional glass glasses for their children. This is mainly because many parents know little or nothing about the good points of the resinous glasses. Besides, the price for the new glasses is a little higher than the traditional ones.
56. This news article mainly wants to tell us _______.
A. Alexander visited China and introduced a new type of glasses
B. we should wear resinous glasses instead of glass glasses
C. resinous glasses are popular in Europe and America
D. glasses can be made of other materials instead of glass
57. According to Alexander, the “timely treatment” to eyesight problems is _______.
A. to stop wearing glass glasses any more
B. to buy a pair of glasses and wear them right away
C. to wear suitable resinous glasses at the right time
D. to buy glasses made in Europe, Japan or America if possible
58. It can be inferred from this news text that _______.
A. resinous glasses are not on sale in China yet
B. resinous glasses are not acceptable in China
C. glass glasses have disappeared on western market because there is a law against them
D. glass glasses are the first choice in China not only because of their price
E
Right is right. Right? Of course. But is left wrong? Well, the Romans used to think so. They thought left-handed people were mistakes of nature. Latin, the language of the Romans, had many words that expressed this view. Some words we use today still have this meaning. The Latin word “dexter” means “right”. The English word “dexterous” comes from this word. It means “handy” (clever with hands). So, right is handy. But the Latin word for left is “sinister”. The English word “sinister” comes from this word. Sinister means “evil” (very bad). Is it fair to call right-handed people handy and left-handed people evil? Well, fair or not, many languages have words that express such beliefs. In old English, the word for left means “weak”. That isn’t much of an improvement over “evil”.
Not very long ago, children were often forced to write with their right hands. Doctors have since found that this can be very harmful. You should use the hand you were born to use.
People who use their left hands are just starting to get better treatment. But why they get all these bad names in the first place? One reason may be that there are not as many left-handed people as there are right-handed people. There is one left-handed person for every five right-handed ones. People who are different are often thought to be wrong. But attitudes do seem to be changing. Fair-minded right-handed people are finally starting to give left-handed people a hand.
72. What does the passage lead us to believe when one writes?
A. He can only use his right hand. B. He can only use his left hand.
C. He can use either his left hand or his right hand.
D. He can use both his left hand and his right hand.
73. The last sentence of this article means ________.
A. Fair-minded right-handed people want to change the habit of the left-handed people
B. Fair-minded right-handed people are starting to help the left-handed people
C. Fair-minded right-handed people are starting to use left hand to write and so on
D. Fair-minded right-handed people are starting to give up using their left hands
74. After we read the article we can certainly know that _______.
A. left-handed people have been treated poorly
B. the number of the left-handed people is larger than that of right-handed people
C. right-handed people are much cleverer than left-handed people
D. left-handed people are less smart but hardworking
75. Which of the following is NOT right, according to the article?
A. At one time, left-handed people were forced to use their right hands.
B. Left-handed people today are being treated better than those in the past.
C. There are not as many left-handed people as there are right-handed people today.
D. “Dexterous” comes from Latin, means “evil” and English “sinister” means “handy”.
D
If your boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so — or even double that depending on where you live now．That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting．
Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment．
A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs $4,000 a month; a CD $24.83, and an international newspaper $6.30, according to Mercer．By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger is a steal at $4.80．
London takes the No.2 place, up from No.5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar．Mercer estimates London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days．Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No.5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly．
Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities．But both have fallen since last year’s study — New York came in 15th, down from 10th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42nd from 29th place a year ago．San Francisco came in a distant third at No.54, down 20 places from a year earlier．
Toronto, meanwhile, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82nd place worldwide．In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No.21 worldwide．
68. What do the underlined words “a steal” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. an act of stealing B. something delicious
C. something very cheap D. an act of buying
69. London has become the second most expensive city because of _________．
A. the high cost of clothing B. the stronger pound against the dollar
C. its expensive transportation D. the high prices of fast food meals
70. Which city is the third most expensive on the list?
A. Tokyo． B. Hong Kong． C. Moscow． D. Sydney．
71. Which city has dropped most on the list in North America?
A. New York． B. Los Angeles． C. San Francisco． D. Toronto．
E
Events
Long March exhibit
The Shanghai History Museum is putting on an exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary(周年纪念日)of the Long March．On show are more than 220 photos and 40 items that explain with
pictures how the communist Red Army drew back from its besieged(被围困的)bases in Jiangxi
Province and fought its way to northern Shanxi province in the mid-1930s．Explanations are all in
Chinese，The show will end on November 20．
Time： 10：00 am—4：00 pm.
Address： 1286 Hongqiao Road
Admission： 8 yuan for Chinese／15 yuan for foreigners
Thai elephants
Eight elephants from Thailand are entertaining visitors at Changfeng Park by riding bikes，
playing basketball，balancing on a beam，dancing and blowing a mouth-organ．People are encouraged to have a tug-of-war(拔河比赛)with the animals or lie on the ground and have the elephants walk over them，The elephants give three shows a day at 9：30 am,3：30 pm and 8:00 pm and there is an additional show at l：30 pm at weekends.The show will end on November 15。
Address： 189 Daduhe Road
Admission： 30—40 yuan
Dancing dolphins(海豚)
Dolphins jumping from the water to touch a ball，swaying their bodies to music，kissing people and doing maths(算术)by tapping their tails have made the dolphinarium(海豚馆) in Peace Park an attraction for children．Seals and sea lions also perform。
Hours： 10：30 am，4：00pm，and 7：30prn
Admission： 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children．
72．If you go to visit the Long March exhibit with an Australian，how much will you pay altogether for the admission?
A．16yuan B．23 yuan C．30yuan D．20yuan
73．At the exhibition，you will see ___________.
A．many articles written by famous writers
B．many things left by the Red Army,
C．books on the Long March
D．many photos and pictures about the Long Match。
74．Which of the following is NOT done by the Thai elephants?
A．Riding bicycles。 B．Blowing a mouth-organ
C．Doing maths D．Having a tug-of-war with people．
75．The dolphinarium in Peace Park is a hall where you can see ______________.
A．not only dolphins but also seals and sea lions perform
B．only seals and sea lions perform
C．only dolphins perform
D．only seals perform